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Saints 1-2 Wolves - Match Thread


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1 minute ago, The Curse of St Mary's said:

I'd argue and say we deserved too lose today. It was a shocking performance in second half even before the penalty we was all at sea. No plan B from Ralph when chasing game or to react to opposition change in game plan. Players are weak mentally. Romeu was knackered and on yellow which put us at disadvantage but no alternative on bench. Zero urgency or intensity in 2nd half which is not acceptable.

Spot on. It's easy to look past our faults and focus on the decisions. Sure, we got tucked up, but we were shit and got what we deserved. 

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21 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

You could argue that this team is the worst team in our history. Might sound quite a brash statement to make, but this lot have lost 9-0 twice and have just lost 6 games in a row - the most this club has ever lost in a row in any league.

We are mentally weak, fragile and lack any sort of leadership. When the chips are down we wilt, every single time. That won't change without significant changes in the playing squad, which is something we can't do as we have an owner who doesn't support us.

Long and short of it, we are fucked. No idea where we are heading.

Not entirely true .... Ralph’s tactics, mental training and preparation not to mention strange substitutions are not good enough. Our second half performances are dreadful and this hasn’t been addressed either despite it being a recurring theme.

We are playing with this intricate passing out of defence. Whilst this tactic can work, if we do get it through to midfield we then ponder on the ball again and send it backwards. All Wolves did second half was work harder and swap wingers round.

If we are pressed aggressively we have no plan B.

We were very poor second half ‘Again’

Referring aside .... 

 

 

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So what was said during the half time oranges? because second half we were absolute dog sh*t........

I'm going to say it how it is shoot me down if you like I don't care we are entitled to opinions and here are mine. 

We have a squad full of gutless wimps who when under the cosh by opposition throw in the towel way to easily and fold. 

I have watched the last few games and my conclusions: 

Redmond should be sold summer been here a while now is very frustrating to watch to inconsistent at this level doesn't add anything.

Djenepo not this game but in general same as Redmond runs about no end product gives the ball away to inconsistent I know he is young and can potentially develop.

Adams  Holds the ball up well, can't score in a brothel or head a football so at top what does he actually offer? 

The only natural finisher we have in this squad is Ings and possibly Takumi ( to early to say ) 

The only real creative outlet or player who consistently cause opponents problems is Armstrong. 

Why did we take him off today? 

That is the problem dress it up how you want our attack is shite...... 

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Djenepo is just Boufal mark II. 

I’m sure there’s a player in there and I’m dying for him to show it but he just never does (apart from a couple of goals when he joined us).

Week in week out we try to win with passengers on the team. That’s why we struggle vs 10 and 9 men, because we effectively start the game with 9 or 10 ourselves. 

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I think Ralph sums it up well -

Quote

"Until their penalty they had no chances at goal.

"But when you concede that penalty, I just don’t understand.

"This is a little too much for me to take to be honest.

"Why don’t we get a penalty as well? Don’t tell me the rule if it’s not the same for both sides.

"The guys worked hard but again we are hit by a decision we cannot understand."

People going we are bad in the second half, well really were we that bad? How many actual chances did they create in that whole game? None.

Why were they in the game at all?

Because of a terrible refereeing decision.

You can see in the Ralph reply how gutting and confidence destroying it must be for them. Like I said they must feel they play against 12 men every week, do you think you could do you job to a top level under those sort of conditions? 

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Just now, OttawaSaint said:

Djenepo is just Boufal mark II. 

I’m sure there’s a player in there and I’m dying for him to show it but he just never does (apart from a couple of goals when he joined us).

Week in week out we try to win with passengers on the team. That’s why we struggle vs 10 and 9 men, because we effectively start the game with 9 or 10 ourselves. 

I 100% agree with you was going to say this myself he is just way to inconsistent sure you might get the odd bit of brilliance once or twice a season but agreed him and Redmond when they play amount of times they give the ball away and both are frustrating to watch!

Glad somebody else has noticed this!

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1 minute ago, Nolan said:

Insanity to question Ralph.

We were screwed by another injury after being screwed yet again, by inconsistent Refereeing.

Yes the officials aren't helping us much, but it's another second half where we have been outplayed and out thought by an average team once again. Wolves didn't have to do much to force the change up. They just pressed us with more intensity and the wide players swopped positions. 

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Many of you on here who thought this was the best manager for us and frightened he would leave are now calling for his head

Many of those same people did not want Vestergaard near our side now crowing over his abilities

Many of those same people who did not want Forster near our side but now calling from him to play

I could go on and on and on with recent examples.

I know it is a forum for debate but what I will say is that I am glad those people do not have a decision on how the club is run.  Flaky comes to mind.

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1 minute ago, Nolan said:

Insanity to question Ralph.

We were screwed by another injury after being screwed yet again, by inconsistent Refereeing.

Yes we've had inconsistent verging on terrible decisions but how long can we hide behind that and blame everyone bar RH fact is we didn't turn up second half and paid the price! You wouldn't last anywhere with two 9-0s, six straight losses and the worst points dropped from winning positions of any team yet Southampton seems to be the club that is possible

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24 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

You could argue that this team is the worst team in our history. Might sound quite a brash statement to make, but this lot have lost 9-0 twice and have just lost 6 games in a row - the most this club has ever lost in a row in any league.

We are mentally weak, fragile and lack any sort of leadership. When the chips are down we wilt, every single time. That won't change without significant changes in the playing squad, which is something we can't do as we have an owner who doesn't support us.

Long and short of it, we are fucked. No idea where we are heading.

Yes, you could argue that, if you were really, incredibly dense. 

But no, you're right. Anthony Pulis, Jacob Mellis and Ryan Smith would walk into this side, which was top of the Premier League in November. 

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5 minutes ago, tajjuk said:

I think Ralph sums it up well -

People going we are bad in the second half, well really were we that bad? How many actual chances did they create in that whole game? None.

Why were they in the game at all?

Because of a terrible refereeing decision.

You can see in the Ralph reply how gutting and confidence destroying it must be for them. Like I said they must feel they play against 12 men every week, do you think you could do you job to a top level under those sort of conditions? 

We need the rub of the green one day. Something like the opposition being down to ten men from the start of the second half, then down to nine men for the last twenty minutes.

I was fairly resigned when the pen went in. But after their second goal we never looked for a minute we'd get back in.

Edited by CB Fry
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3 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Yes the officials aren't helping us much, but it's another second half where we have been outplayed and out thought by an average team once again. Wolves didn't have to do much to force the change up. They just pressed us with more intensity and the wide players swopped positions. 

Yeah but they upped their intensity as all their front 3 were practically rested from the cup game- ours dropped off after playing Thursday and then again today

We have to remember our players are not Mane, Salah or any other top player who does it week in week out in the PL and CL etc etc etc 

Our players are limited players incapable of producing twice a week- that’s why they play for us and not a top 6 team

Edited by nta786
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They need to change VAR so that the VAR guy makes the decision not some unfit middle-aged bloke who is struggling to keep up with play and just caught a fleeting glimpse of what happened.

Sod this clear and obvious error bullshit and just give the person with the best view the final say.

Edited by aintforever
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More concerning, for me, than the losses is the complete lack of creativity in the side.  SO slow in possession, no movement and the final ball is shocking.

Add in every decision seeming to go against us and confidence must be rock bottom.

Difficult to see where the next win is coming from right now but it will - we are not as bad as we appear right now, just as we were not as good as we appeared early in the season.

Still on an FA Cup run so all is not lost with this season

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8 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Yes, you could argue that, if you were really, incredibly dense. 

But no, you're right. Anthony Pulis, Jacob Mellis and Ryan Smith would walk into this side, which was top of the Premier League in November. 

You missed my point. I'm not on about individuals making up the team, as there is no doubt we have much higher quality individually than at many times in our history. But I'm on about the team makeup - mentality, professionalism etc. This has got to be the worst makeup we've ever had, we're setting the wrong records all over the place for losing leads, losing games 9-0 and the likes.

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4 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Insanity to question Ralph.

We were screwed by another injury after being screwed yet again, by inconsistent Refereeing.

No it's not. I don't want Ralph to go but he does have a few blind spots.

He does not have a plan B, leaves it way too late to make changes when the game is going away from us, blindly sticks with players out of form (McCarthy, Redmond ). Yes we have had some horrible decisions go against us, but the players seem to fold like a house of cards when something goes against us, instead of saying feck that I am going to fix that injustice - that is all about attitude and confidence and all down to Ralph. If he doesn't have the skills for that, than hire someone who can help him do that. We are a team and need all the help we can get. We are fragile as feck and desperately in need of some backbone, so why not hire someone to help Ralph do that? Will cost a lot less than some of our subsided loans out.

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17 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

Djenepo is just Boufal mark II. 

I’m sure there’s a player in there and I’m dying for him to show it but he just never does (apart from a couple of goals when he joined us).

Week in week out we try to win with passengers on the team. That’s why we struggle vs 10 and 9 men, because we effectively start the game with 9 or 10 ourselves. 

He seems like an intuitive player and it seems to inhibit him playing to a plan.

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The same people who were righly praising our performances pre-xmas and likely claiming this to the best Saints team they've seen since 15/16....are now saying this is the worst Saints team ever and claiming that we're watching the demise of this club. Only on SWF.

Honestly, enjoy your day doing something other than venting fury at your keyboard. Its only a game of football

 

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3 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

You missed my point. I'm not on about individuals making up the team, as there is no doubt we have much higher quality individually than at many times in our history. But I'm on about the team makeup - mentality, professionalism etc. This has got to be the worst makeup we've ever had, we're setting the wrong records all over the place for losing leads, losing games 9-0 and the likes.

Playing at the intensity we need to for 95 minutes has taken its toll. We can’t do it twice a week with the squad we have. Still, I’d take the cup win over 3 points today all day long.

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I love JWP but is he really captain material? I mean 'come on lads, FFS, grabbing a game by the scruff of the neck, leading by example, character, grit and determination' kind of captain? We don't seem to have any of these players at all. And it is why we fold like a limp biscuit the moment there is anything that goes against us. 'Why me?' we wimper at the ref as we give in and hope someone else takes initiative. Raph's tactics may be one dimensional, and his team selection, favourites and inability to do the right substitutes might be costing us, but we really miss having someone with, well, balls. We need a Dunk (or someone else who clearly cares)

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22 minutes ago, captainchris said:

Not entirely true .... Ralph’s tactics, mental training and preparation not to mention strange substitutions are not good enough. Our second half performances are dreadful and this hasn’t been addressed either despite it being a recurring theme.

We are playing with this intricate passing out of defence. Whilst this tactic can work, if we do get it through to midfield we then ponder on the ball again and send it backwards. All Wolves did second half was work harder and swap wingers round.

If we are pressed aggressively we have no plan B.

We were very poor second half ‘Again’

Referring aside .... 

 

 

Our game management does leave a lot to be desired, but it also left a lot to be desired under Hughes, Pellegrino etc. I think we have good individual quality in this side in certain areas, but you cannot coach mentality and leadership - that's part of your make up. You don't even need to be technically amazing to show mentality and leadership, but we don't have anyone in our side who really comes out screaming and barking orders.

Did you hear Cody for Wolves? That's proper leadership. Barking orders, moving people around, organising. 

Yes, we can play a good pass out of defence, do a nice tidy pirouette in midfield, but we have no one who sits there barking orders and giving anyone a kick up the backside. We're too nice to each other and too nice to others. That won't ever change with these players.

I'm repeating myself here, but teams with a good mentality do not lose games 9-0 once, let alone twice. Ralph must know it, but he has no flexibility to fix it. I'd be radical and totally shake this squad up, bring in some bigger personalities.

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15 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Because we play a high intensity game and are in the middle of our most hectic fixture schedule ever?

Let's see how this excuse holds up when Leeds run all over us for 90 minutes next week. Somehow, their intensity is holding up...

If the players aren't fit enough to maintain the manager's tactics over the course of a season, surely a competent manager would adapt his approach.

Lockdown in March bailed Hasenhuttl out last season, because we were physically cooked and headed on another dire run of form.

 

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3 minutes ago, DT said:

I love JWP but is he really captain material? I mean 'come on lads, FFS, grabbing a game by the scruff of the neck, leading by example, character, grit and determination' kind of captain? We don't seem to have any of these players at all. And it is why we fold like a limp biscuit the moment there is anything that goes against us. 'Why me?' we wimper at the ref as we give in and hope someone else takes initiative. Raph's tactics may be one dimensional, and his team selection, favourites and inability to do the right substitutes might be costing us, but we really miss having someone with, well, balls. We need a Dunk (or someone else who clearly cares)

Completely agree. JWP it seems to me got the gig by default. Being the longest serving player at a club does not make you captain material. 

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We lost control of the game because Wolves made a single tactical change at half time. They pulled Traore off the left wing where he has been ineffective and allowed him to roam around and get more involved. The manager and coaches should be competent enough to spot what, was not a subtle change, and react accordingly. That they didn't is ultimately a large chunk of the reason we got nothing from the game.

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4 minutes ago, DT said:

I love JWP but is he really captain material? I mean 'come on lads, FFS, grabbing a game by the scruff of the neck, leading by example, character, grit and determination' kind of captain? We don't seem to have any of these players at all. And it is why we fold like a limp biscuit the moment there is anything that goes against us. 'Why me?' we wimper at the ref as we give in and hope someone else takes initiative. Raph's tactics may be one dimensional, and his team selection, favourites and inability to do the right substitutes might be costing us, but we really miss having someone with, well, balls. We need a Dunk (or someone else who clearly cares)

No, he's not a captain in the slightest. I think that shows you the lack of options in the squad to be honest, JWP is as good as an option we have.

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10 minutes ago, Red said:

No it's not. I don't want Ralph to go but he does have a few blind spots.

He does not have a plan B, leaves it way too late to make changes when the game is going away from us, blindly sticks with players out of form (McCarthy, Redmond ). Yes we have had some horrible decisions go against us, but the players seem to fold like a house of cards when something goes against us, instead of saying feck that I am going to fix that injustice - that is all about attitude and confidence and all down to Ralph. If he doesn't have the skills for that, than hire someone who can help him do that. We are a team and need all the help we can get. We are fragile as feck and desperately in need of some backbone, so why not hire someone to help Ralph do that? Will cost a lot less than some of our subsided loans out.

Plan B? He's not been properly backed to implement his plan A!

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Regarding the battle of the goalkeepers I did not hear a peep out of McCarthy all game. No organising the defence, no shouts to get out. On thursday you could hear Foster's booming voice every time Wolves got near our penalty area. This is a big part of a 'keeper's game and I'm afraid McCarthy doesn't do it. Defenders are not always aware of the danger around them whereas the 'keeper mostly has a good view and should use his gob to help out his team mates.

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10 minutes ago, Red said:

No it's not. I don't want Ralph to go but he does have a few blind spots.

He does not have a plan B, leaves it way too late to make changes when the game is going away from us, blindly sticks with players out of form (McCarthy, Redmond ). Yes we have had some horrible decisions go against us, but the players seem to fold like a house of cards when something goes against us, instead of saying feck that I am going to fix that injustice - that is all about attitude and confidence and all down to Ralph. If he doesn't have the skills for that, than hire someone who can help him do that. We are a team and need all the help we can get. We are fragile as feck and desperately in need of some backbone, so why not hire someone to help Ralph do that? Will cost a lot less than some of our subsided loans out.

What I should've said was "insanity to Question Ralph's Job".

How do you get Bertrand head back round when that happens on his 250th game for us.

What needs to be sorted is the rules have to be clear.

Get rid of this "clear and obvious error" crap, and officiate to the rules.

 

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  • Jimmy_D changed the title to Saints 1-2 Wolves - Match Thread

Big concern for me is that we look like we lost KWP again. He didn't have his best game today, but he and Armstrong make this team tick, and without one of them again we are going to struggle, indeed does anyone know if Armstrong going off was purely tactical?.

We just fell apart once they got their lucky penalty (though they had been on top from half-time), no ideas what to do and the second became inevitable. Really disappointed in Minamino today, offered nothing, Redders was OK-ish (deserved an "assist" for Ings' goal). Not sure what else to say, not going to blame McCarthy for the goal, still have more confidence in him that Forster. Thought we looked reasonably calm and in control in defence, at least while we had our first choice 4. Romeu and JWP dictated the middle for most of the game, just possibly Romeu backed off a bit after his yellow, understandable knowing that Diallo is not fit yet. Armstrong was superb, his run for Danny's goal was absolutely brilliant. Ings looked to be back to his best, especially with his work outside the box and in defence. What else to say, we just were shocking when something went against us an couldn't shake ourselves out of it, and that is the real concern. 

We simply have to find a way of turning these defeats into at least draws. Getting past that 29 point mark is becoming a bit of an albatross round our neck. I don't think we will get sucked into a relegation fight, but while we are still not past 30 you have to say that mathematically you cannot be certain, who is to say we will still not be there after our next 3 league games. 

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9 minutes ago, DT said:

I love JWP but is he really captain material? I mean 'come on lads, FFS, grabbing a game by the scruff of the neck, leading by example, character, grit and determination' kind of captain? We don't seem to have any of these players at all. And it is why we fold like a limp biscuit the moment there is anything that goes against us. 'Why me?' we wimper at the ref as we give in and hope someone else takes initiative. Raph's tactics may be one dimensional, and his team selection, favourites and inability to do the right substitutes might be costing us, but we really miss having someone with, well, balls. We need a Dunk (or someone else who clearly cares)

I was about to post the same about JWP. In addition, he looks knackered, physically and mentally, with lots of stray passes today. Hardly surprising, given the amount of game-time he has faced and the sheer level of effort he puts into every shift.

The only player with real steel is Romeu, in my book. Sadly,he was blunted by the early yellow card today, having to pull out of a number of challenges. I am sure he would have liked to have left his mark on Traore in the second half.

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15 minutes ago, DT said:

I love JWP but is he really captain material? I mean 'come on lads, FFS, grabbing a game by the scruff of the neck, leading by example, character, grit and determination' kind of captain? We don't seem to have any of these players at all. And it is why we fold like a limp biscuit the moment there is anything that goes against us. 'Why me?' we wimper at the ref as we give in and hope someone else takes initiative. Raph's tactics may be one dimensional, and his team selection, favourites and inability to do the right substitutes might be costing us, but we really miss having someone with, well, balls. We need a Dunk (or someone else who clearly cares)

Bang on the money. He's a great player but captain by default. One big consequence of our plan to buy young, promising, saleable players is unless they're already natural leaders, it leads to a dirth of that kind of attribute in the squad. That's when you look to the experience in the squad & I don't see the requisite strength of character in Bertrand, Romeu or even McCarthy to get us going again. Until its addressed, we will continue to cough up defeats from winnable positions. The captain doesn't have to be the best player on the park but he does need to be the drive and inspiration. How many other teams need their manager cajoling and barking out instructions like a madman to try to be effective?

Edited by Ivan Katalinic's 'tache
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32 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Insanity to question Ralph.

We were screwed by another injury after being screwed yet again, by inconsistent Refereeing.

KWP injury did not have to mean disrupting our CB's. Ralph played two men down the right for a big chunk of the second half. He did nothing else to influence the game when we went down, or indeed for the entire second half. Djenepo didn't feel like the right change when he made it, and so it proved. 

Those decisions, and others are all on Ralph.

Too easy to blame our luck. 

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Quote

Southampton midfielder Stuart Armstrong told Amazon Prime: "It’s very disappointing, first half we were good.

"The penalty decision for me, I don’t understand what you can do. He’s one yard away and he’s hit it so hard. His arm isn’t event stretched.

"I don’t understand how you can give it. It completely changes the game.

"Our run is very poor. We need to find our rhythm, again.

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl, speaking to MOTD: "It's hard to take. It was a good game from our side but I cannot understand it [penalty decision].

"There was no chance for the opponent up to then. My team was shocked at that moment because of the decision. We can discuss about everything but at the moment I cannot think about anything else.

"The rest of the story, let others discuss it. I don't want to. I've seen it two or three times. I cannot understand."

^ Look at the comments, its killing them these decisions. 

 

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Perhaps Ralph does have a ‘plan B’ but is not able to implement it through lack of resources ? It’s already been said that our best players are having to play 2 or 3 games a week and (because of our high press, high energy style) they run out of steam ! Bestways we have a good first 11 but a very weak and inexperienced backup squad !

It’s absolutely soul destroying to get crap refereeing decisions which alter the dynamic of the game and all of a sudden you have to go again...

It’s not ideal the way things are going right now but perhaps understandable !

Those calling for Ralph’s head are a bit thick IMHO !!

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